B    M    1DD 


RIVERS   TO   THE   SEA 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO   •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON    •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


RIVERS    TO 
THE    SEA 


BY 
SARA   TEASDALE 


Xrto  gorfe 
THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

1922 

AU  rights  reserved 


COPTBIQHT,   1915, 

Br  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.  Published  October,  1915. 
Reprinted  February,  July,  1916;  September,  1917; 
July,  1918 ;  June,  1919 ;  June,  1920  ;  August,  1922. 


tfotfoooto 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Co 

ERNST 


THANKS  are  due  to  the  editors  of  Harper's, 
Century,  Seribner's,  Poetry,  and  other  periodicals, 
for  their  courteous  permission  to  reprint  many  of 
the  following  poems. 


CONTENTS 
PART   I 

PAGE 

,•  SPRING  NIGHT        .        .  .        .        .        .        .        1 

THE  FLIGHT  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        3 

NEW  LOVE  AND  OLD    .......        4 

THE  LOOK .  .        .        5 

,  SPRING    .. 6 

-/THE  LIGHTED  WINDOW        .        .        .        ....        7 

THE  Kiss       .........        9 

SWANS 10 

THE  OLD  MAID     .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .11 

THE  WOOLWORTH  TOWER 12 

NIGHT 16 

•  THE  YEARS 17 

PEACE .        .        .        .18 

•  APRIL     . .19 

tlOME 20 

MOODS 21 

•  APRIL  SONG .        .22 

visiAY  DAY 23 

V€ROWNED        ,        .        .        ..        ...        .24 

vTo  A  CASTILIAN  SONG 25 

BROADWAY 26 

[ix] 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

A  WINTER  BLUEJAY 27 

IN  A  RESTAURANT 29 

JOY 30 

IN  A  RAILROAD  STATION     .        .        .        .        .        .31 

IN  THE  TRAIN       .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .      32 

To  ONE  AWAY 33 

SONG       ...        .'•      .        .       .        .        .        .34 

DEEP  IN  THE  NIGHT     .......      35 

THE  INDIA  WHARF 36 

I  SHALL  NOT  CARE      .        .        .        .        t        .        .38 

DESERT  POOLS 39 

LONGING         ...        .        .        «     •   .       ..      40 

PITY        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        ,        .        .      41 

AFTER  PARTING    .        ,        .        .        . .      .        .      .  .      42 

•ENOUGH.        .        . 43 

ALCHEMY        . .        .      44 

FEBRUARY      .        .        .        .        .        .        ...      45 

^MORNING        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        «        .46 

•  MAY  NIGHT   .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .47 

DUSK  IN  JUNE       .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .      48 

N/LOVE-FREE .        .      49 

SUMMER  NIGHT,  RIVERSIDE         .        .        .        .        .50 

IN  A  SUBWAY  STATION         .        .        ...        .52 

AFTER  LOVE  .........      53 

DOOKYARD  ROSES  .        .        .        .        .        .        •     •  •      54 

A  PRAYER  .        .  55 


CONTENTS 
PART   II 

PAOB 

INDIAN  SUMMER    .        .        .        .     '  .        .        .        .      59 
THE  SEA  WIND     ........      61 

THE  CLOUD .62 

THE  POOR  HOUSE 63 

YEAR'S  DAWN  —  BROADWAY       .        .        .        .      64 

STAR      .        . 66 

DOCTORS         .        .       V*.:<>«        .        ...        .      67 

THE  INN  OF  EARTH      ^       ...       .        .        .        .68 

/TN  THE  CARPENTER'S  SHOP  .        »       .        .        .        .70 

\jTnE  CARPENTER'S  SON         ..„„...      72 
THE  MOTHER  OF  A  POET    ..       .,       ....      77 

IN  MEMORIAM  F.  O.  S.        .        .       .        .       .       .82 

TWILIGHT       .        .        .        .        ..  .      ;  .        .83 

SWALLOW  FLIGHT  .        .        .        .        .        .        ...      84 

'THOUGHTS .       .        .      85 

To  DICK,  ON  His  SIXTH  BIRTHDAY   .        .       .       .      86 

To  ROSE        . 88 

THE  FOUNTAIN 90 

THE  ROSE .      92 

DREAMS 93 

« I  AM  NOT  YOURS  "    . 94 

PIERROT'S  SONG .95 

NIGHT  IN  ARIZONA       .......96 

VpusK  IN  WAR  TIME     .        .       .        .       .       .    '   .      97 

V  SPRING  IN  WAR  TIME  .        .        .       .       .        .       .98 

WHILE  I  MAY 100 

•  DEBT       . 101 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

FROM  THE  NORTH 102 

THE  LIGHTS  OF  NEW  YORK 103 

SEA  LONGING 104 

THE  RIVER "     .        .        .        m  105 

LEAVES 106 

THE  ANSWER 107 

PART  III 

OVER  THE  ROOFS  .        .       «.        .  ...  .  HI 

A  CRY    .        .        .        ,        .        ,  .  .  ..  114 

CHANCE  .        .        .        .        .        .  ^  .  »  .  115 

IMMORTAL •  .  .  .  116 

AFTER  DEATH       .        ,        •  •    :  .  .  «  .  117 

V'TESTAMENT    ....  .-  .  .  .  .  us 

«GIFTS      -..       .        .        .        .        .  .  fc  ,  .  119 

PAET   IV 

FROM  THE  SEA      .        .        .        .»,        .        .     123 
VIGNETTES  OVERSEAS  .        .        ...        .        .    128 

PART   V 
SAPPHO  ........  137 


[xii] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

SPRING  NIGHT 

THE  park  is  filled  with  night  and  fog, 
The  veils  are  drawn  about  the  world, 

The  drowsy  lights  along  the  paths 
Are  dun  and  pearled. 

Gold  and  gleaming  the  empty  streets, 
Gold  and  gleaming  the  misty  lake, 

The  mirrored  lights  like  sunken  swords, 
Glimmer  and  shake. 

Oh,  is  it  not  enough  to  be 
Here  with  this  beauty  over  me  ? 
My  throat  should  ache  with  praise,  and  I 
Should  kneel  in  joy  beneath  the  sky. 
Oh,  beauty  are  you  not  enough? 
[1] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Why  am  I  crying  after  love 

With  youth,  a  singing  voice  and  eyes 

To  take  earth's  wonder  with  surprise  ? 

Why  have  I  put  off  my  pride, 

Why  am  I  unsatisfied, 

I  for  whom  the  pensive  night 

Binds  her  cloudy  hair  with  light, 

I  for  whom  all  beauty  burns 

Like  incense  in  a  million  urns  ? 

Oh,  beauty,  are  you  not  enough  ? 

Why  am  I  crying  after  love  ? 


[2] 


THE  FLIGHT 

LOOK  back  with  longing  eyes  and  know  that  I  will 

follow, 

Lift  me  up  in  your  love  as  a  light  wind  lifts  a  swallow, 
Let  our  flight  be  far  in  sun  or  windy  rain  — 
But  what  if  I  heard  my  first  love  calling  me  again  f 

Hold  me  on  your  heart  as  the  brave  sea  holds  the 

foam, 

Take  me  far  away  to  the  hills  that  hide  your  home ; 
Peace  shall  thatch  the  roof  and  love  shall  latch  the 

door  — 
But  what  if  I  heard  my  first  love  calling  me  once  more? 


[3] 


NEW  LOVE  AND  OLD , 

IN  my  heart  the  old  love 
Struggled  with  the  new ; 

It  was  ghostly  waking 
All  night  thru. 

Dear  things,  kind  things, 
That  my  old  love  said, 

Ranged  themselves  reproachfully 
Round  my  bed. 

But  I  could  not  heed  them, 

For  I  seemed  to  see 
The  eyes  of  my  new  love 

Fixed  on  me. 

Old  love,  old  love, 

How  can  I  be  true  ? 
Shall  I  be  faithless  to  myself 

Or  to  you  ? 

[4] 


THE  LOOK 

STREPHON  kissed  me  in  the  spring, 

Robin  in  the  fall, 
But  Colin  only  looked  at  me 

And  never  kissed  at  all. 

Strephon's  kiss  was  lost  in  jest, 

Robin's  lost  in  play, 
But  the  kiss  in  Colin's  eyes 

Haunts  me  night  and  day. 


[5] 


SPRING 

IN  Central  Park  the  lovers  sit, 
On  every  hilly  path  they  stroll, 

Each  thinks  his  love  is  infinite, 
And  crowns  his  soul. 

But  we  are  cynical  and  wise, 
We  walk  a  careful  foot  apart, 

You  make  a  little  joke  that  tries 
To  hide  your  heart. 

Give  over,  we  have  laughed  enough; 

Oh  dearest  and  most  foolish  friend, 
Why  do  you  wage  a  war  with  love 

To  lose  your  battle  in  the  end? 


[6] 


THE  LIGHTED  WINDOW 

He  said: 

"In  the  winter  dusk 

When  the  pavements  were  gleaming  with  rain, 

I  walked  thru  a  dingy  street 

Hurried,  harassed, 

Thinking    of    all    my    problems    that    never    are 

solved. 

Suddenly  out  of  the  mist,  a  flaring  gas-jet 
Shone  from  a  huddled  shop. 
I  saw  thru  the  bleary  window 
A  mass  of  playthings: 
False-faces  hung  on  strings, 
Valentines,  paper  and  tinsel, 
Tops  of  scarlet  and  green, 
Candy,  marbles,  jacks  — 
A  confusion  of  color 
Pathetically  gaudy  and  cheap. 
All  of  my  boyhood 

[7] 


RIVERS   TO    THE    SEA 

Rushed  back. 

Once  more  these  things  were  treasures 

Wildly  desired. 

With  covetous  eyes  I  looked  again  at  the  marbles, 

The  precious  agates,  the  pee-wees,  the  chinies  — 

Then  I  passed  on. 

In  the  winter  dusk, 

The  pavements  were  gleaming  with  rain; 

There  in  the  lighted  window 

I  left  my  boyhood." 


[8] 


THE  KISS  «- 

BEFORE  you  kissed  me  only  winds  of  heaven 

Had  kissed  me,  and  the  tenderness  of  rain  — 
Now  you  have  come,  how  can  I  care  for  kisses 
Like  theirs  again? 

I  sought  the  sea,  she  sent  her  winds  to  meet  me, 

They  surged  about  me  singing  of  the  south  — 
I  turned  my  head  away  to  keep  still  holy 
Your  kiss  upon  my  mouth. 

And  swift  sweet  rains  of  shining  April  weather 
Found  not  my  lips  where  living  kisses  are; 
I  bowed  my  head  lest  they  put  out  my  glory 
As  rain  puts  out  a  star. 

I  am  my  love's  and  he  is  mine  forever, 

Sealed  with  a  seal  and  safe  forevermore  — 
Think  you  that  I  could  let  a  beggar  enter 
Where  a  king  stood  before? 
[9] 


SWANS 

NIGHT  is  over  the  park,  and  a  few  brave  stars 
Look  on  the  lights  that  link  it  with  chains  of 

gold, 

The  lake  bears  up  their  reflection  in  broken  bars 
That    seem    too   heavy  for  tremulous   water  to 
hold. 

We   watch   the   swans   that   sleep   in   a   shadowy 

place, 
And  now  and  again  one  wakes  and  uplifts  its 

head; 

How  still  you  are  —  your  gaze  is  on  my  face  — 
We  watch  the  swans  and  never  a  word  is  said. 


10] 


THE  OLD  MAID 

I  SAW  her  in  a  Broadway  car, 
The  woman  I  might  grow  to  be; 

I  felt  my  lover  look  at  her 
And  then  turn  suddenly  to  me. 

Her  hair  was  dull  and  drew  no  light 
And  yet  its  color  was  as  mine; 

Her  eyes  were  strangely  like  my  eyes 
Tho'  love  had  never  made  them  shine. 

Her  body  was  a  thing  grown  thin, 
Hungry  for  love  that  never  came; 

Her  soul  was  frozen  in  the  dark 
Unwarmed  forever  by  love's  flame. 

I  felt  my  lover  look  at  her 
And  then  turn  suddenly  to  me,  — 

His  eyes  were  magic  to  defy 
The  woman  I  shall  never  be. 

in] 


FROM  THE  WOOLWORTH  TOWER 

VIVID  with  love,  eager  for  greater  beauty 

Out  of  the  night  we  come 

Into  the  corridor,  brilliant  and  warm. 

A  metal  door  slides  open, 

And  the  lift  receives  us. 

Swiftly,  with  sharp  unswerving  flight 

The  car  shoots  upward, 

And  the  air,  swirling  and  angry, 

Howls  like  a  hundred  devils. 

Past  the  maze  of  trim  bronze  doors, 

Steadily  we  ascend. 

I  cling  to  you 

Conscious  of  the  chasm  under  us, 

And  a  terrible  whirring  deafens  my  ears. 

The  flight  is  ended. 

We  pass  thru  a  door  leading  onto  the  ledge  - 
[12] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Wind,  night  and  space ! 

Oh  terrible  height 

Why  have  we  sought  you? 

Oh  bitter  wind  with  icy  invisible  wings 

Why  do  you  beat  us? 

Why  would  you  bear  us  away? 

We  look  thru  the  miles  of  air, 

The  cold  blue  miles  between  us  and  the  city, 

Over  the  edge  of  eternity  we  look 

On  all  the  lights, 

A  thousand  times  more  numerous  than  the  stars; 

Oh  lines  and  loops  of  light  in  unwound  chains 

That  mark  for  miles  and  miles 

The  vast  black  mazy  cobweb  of  the  streets; 

Near  us  clusters  and  splashes  of  living  gold 

That  change  far  off  to  bluish  steel 

Where  the  fragile  lights  on  the  Jersey  shore 

Tremble  like  drops  of  wind-stirred  dew. 

The  strident  noises  of  the  city 

Floating  up  to  us 

[13] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Are  hallowed  into  whispers. 
Ferries  cross  thru  the  darkness 
Weaving  a  golden  thread  into  the  night, 
Their  whistles  weird  shadows  of  sound. 

We  feel  the  millions  of  humanity  beneath  us,  — 
The  warm  millions,  moving  under  the  roofs, 
Consumed  by  their  own  desires; 
Preparing  food, 
Sobbing  alone  in  a  garret, 
With  burning  eyes  bending  over  a  needle, 
Aimlessly  reading  the  evening  paper, 
Dancing  in  the  naked  light  of  the  cafe, 
Laying  out  the  dead, 
Bringing  a  child  to  birth  — 

The  sorrow,  the  torpor,  the  bitterness,  the  frail  joy 
Come  up  to  us 

Like  a  cold  fog  wrapping  us  round. 
Oh  in  a  hundred  years 
Not  one  of  these  blood-warm  bodies 
[141 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

But  will  be  worthless  as  clay. 

The  anguish,  the  torpor,  the  toil 

Will  have  passed  to  other  millions 

Consumed  by  the  same  desires. 

Ages  will  come  and  go, 

Darkness  will  blot  the  lights 

And  the  tower  will  be  laid  on  the  earth. 

The  sea  will  remain 

Black  and  unchanging, 

The  stars  will  look  down 

Brilliant  and  unconcerned. 

Beloved, 

Tho'  sorrow,  futility,  defeat 

Surround  us, 

They  cannot  bear  us  down. 

Here  on  the  abyss  of  eternity 

Love  has  crowned  us 

For  a  moment 

Victors. 

[15] 


AT  NIGHT 

WE  are  apart;    the  city  grows  quiet  between  us, 
She  hushes   herself,  for   midnight   makes  heavy 

her  eyes, 

The  tangle  of  traffic  is  ended,  the  cars  are  empty, 
Five  streets  divide  us,  and  on  them  the  moon 
light  lies. 

Oh  are  you  asleep,  or  lying  awake,  my  lover? 
Open  your  dreams  to  my  love  and  your  heart 

to  my  words, 
I  send  you  my  thoughts  —  the  air  between  us  is 

laden, 

My  thoughts  fly  in  at  your  window,  a  flock  of 
wild  birds. 


[16] 


THE  YEARS 

TO-NIGHT  I  close  my  eyes  and  see 
A  strange  procession  passing  me  — 
The  years  before  I  saw  your  face 
Go  by  me  with  a  wistful  grace; 
They  pass,  the  sensitive  shy  years, 
As  one  who  strives  to  dance,  half  blind 
with  tears. 

The  years  went  by  and  never  knew 
That  each  one  brought  me  nearer  you; 
Their  path  was  narrow  and  apart 
And  yet  it  led  me  to  your  heart  — 
Oh  sensitive  shy  years,  oh  lonely  years, 
That  strove  to  sing  with  voices  drowned 
in  tears. 


[17] 


PEACE 

PEACE  flows  into  me 

As  the  tide  to  the  pool  by  the 
shore ; 

It  is  mine  forevermore, 
It  ebbs  not  back  like  the  sea. 

I  am  the  pool  of  blue 

That  worships  the  vivid  sky; 

My  hopes  were  heaven-high, 
They  are  all  fulfilled  in  you. 

I  am  the  pool  of  gold 

When  sunset  burns  and  dies,  — 
You  are  my  deepening  skies, 

Give  me  your  stars  to  hold. 


18 


APRIL  v 

THE  roofs  are  shining  from  the  rain, 
The  sparrows  twitter  as  they  fly, 

And  with  a  windy  April  grace 
The  little  clouds  go  by. 

Yet  the  back-yards  are  bare  and  brown 
With  only  one  unchanging  tree  — 

I  could  not  be  so  sure  of  Spring 
Save  that  it  sings  in  me. 


[19] 


COME 

COME,  when  the  pale  moon  like  a  petal 
Floats  in  the  pearly  dusk  of  spring, 

Come  with  arms  outstretched  to  take  me, 
Come  with  lips  pursed  up  to  cling. 

Come,  for  life  is  a  frail  moth  flying 

Caught  in  the  web  of  the  years  that  pass, 

And  soon  we  two,  so  warm  and  eager 
Will  be  as  the  gray  stones  in  the  grass. 


[20] 


MOODS 

I  AM  the  still  rain  falling, 

Too  tired  for  singing  mirth  — 

Oh,  be  the  green  fields  calling, 
Oh,  be  for  me  the  earth ! 

I  am  the  brown  bird  pining 
To  leave  the  nest  and  fly  — 

Oh,  be  the  fresh  cloud  shining, 
Oh,  be  for  me  the  sky  ! 


[21] 


* 

APRIL  SONG 

WILLOW  in  your  April  gown 
Delicate  and  gleaming, 

Do  you  mind  in  years  gone  by 
All  my  dreaming? 

Spring  was  like  a  call  to  me 
That  I  could  not  answer, 

I  was  chained  to  loneliness, 
I,  the  dancer. 

Willow,  twinkling  in  the  sun, 
Still  your  leaves  and  hear  me, 

I  can  answer  spring  at  last, 
Love  is  near  me  I 


[22] 


r 

MAY  DAY 

THE  shining  line  of  motors, 
The  swaying  motor-bus, 

The  prancing  dancing  horses 
Are  passing  by  for  us. 

The  sunlight  on  the  steeple, 
The  toys  we  stop  to  see, 

The  smiling  passing  people 
Are  all  for  you  and  me. 

"I  love  you  and  I  love  you !" 
"  And  oh,  I  love  you,  too ! " 

"All  of  the  flower  girl's  lilies 
Were  only  grown  for  you ! " 

Fifth  Avenue  and  April 

And  love  and  lack  of  care  — 
The  world  is  mad  with  music 

Too  beautiful  to  bear. 
[23] 


CROWNED 

I  WEAR  a  crown  invisible  and  clear, 
And  go  my  lifted  royal  way  apart 
Since  you  have  crowned  me  softly  in  your 

heart 

With  love  that  is  half  ardent,  half  austere; 
And  as  a  queen  disguised  might  pass  anear 
The  bitter  crowd  that  barters  in  a  mart, 
Veiling  her  pride  while  tears  of  pity  start, 
I  hide  my  glory  thru  a  jealous  fear. 
My  crown  shall  stay  a  sweet  and  secret  thing 
Kept  pure  with  prayer  at  evensong  and 

morn, 
And  when  you  come  to  take  it  from  my 

head, 

I  shall  not  weep,  nor  will  a  word  be  said, 
But  I  shall  kneel  before  you,  oh  my  king, 
And  bind  my  brow  forever  with  a  thorn. 


24 


TO  A  CASTILIAN  SONG 

WE  held  the  book  together  timidly, 
Whose  antique  music  in  an  alien  tongue 
Once  rose  among  the  dew-drenched  vines  that 

hung 

Beneath  a  high  Castilian  balcony. 
I  felt  the  lute  strings'  ancient  ecstasy, 
And   while    he   read,    my   love-filled   heart   was 

stung, 
And    throbbed,    as   where    an    ardent    bird    has 

clung 

The  branches  tremble  on  a  blossomed  tree. 
Oh  lady  for  whose  sake  the  song  was  made, 
Laid  long  ago  in  some  still  cypress  shade, 
Divided  from  the  man  who  longed  for  thee, 
-     Here  in  a  land  whose  name  he  never  heard, 
His   song   brought   love   as   April   brings   the 

bird, 

And  not  a  breath  divides  my  love  from  me ! 
[25] 


BROADWAY 

THIS  is  the  quiet  hour;    the  theaters 

Have  gathered  in  their  crowds,  and  steadily 
The  million  lights  blaze  on  for  few  to  see, 

Robbing  the  sky  of  stars  that  should  be  hers. 

A  woman  waits  with  bag  and  shabby  furs, 
A  somber  man  drifts  by,  and  only  we 
Pass  up  the  street  unwearied,  warm  and  free, 

For  over  us  the  olden  magic  stirs. 

Beneath  the  liquid  splendor  of  the  lights 
We  live  a  little  ere  the  charm  is  spent; 

This  night  is  ours,  of  all  the  golden  nights, 

The  pavement  an  enchanted  palace  floor, 
And  Youth  the  player  on  the  viol,  who  sent 
A  strain  of  music  thru  an  open  door. 


26 


A  WINTER 

CRISPLY  the  bright  snow  whispered, 

Crunching  beneath  our  feet; 

Behind  us  as  we  walked  along  the  parkway, 

Our  shadows  danced, 

Fantastic  shapes  in  vivid  blue. 

Across  the  lake  the  skaters 

Flew  to  and  fro, 

With  sharp  turns  weaving 

A  frail  invisible  net. 

In  ecstasy  the  earth 

Drank  the  silver  sunlight; 

In  ecstasy  the  skaters 

Drank  the  wine  of  speed ; 

In  ecstasy  we  laughed 

Drinking  the  wine  of  love. 

Had  not  the  music  of  our  joy 

Sounded  its  highest  note? 

But  no, 

[27] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

For  suddenly,  with  lifted  eyes  you  said, 

"Oh  look!" 

There,  on  the  black  bough  of  a  snow  flecked 

maple, 

Fearless  and  gay  as  our  love, 
A  bluejay  cocked  his  crest  I 
Oh  who  can  tell  the  range  of  joy 
Or  set  the  bounds  of  beauty? 


28] 


IN  A  RESTAURANT 

THE  darkened  street  was  muffled  with  the  snow, 
The    falling    flakes    had    made    your    shoulders 

white, 

And  when  we  found  a  shelter  from  the  night 
Its  glamor  fell  upon  us  like  a  blow. 
The  clash  of  dishes  and  the  viol  and  bow 
Mingled  beneath  the  fever  of  the  light. 
The  heat  was  full  of  savors,  and  the  bright 
Laughter  of  women  lured  the  wine  to  flow. 
A  little  child  ate  nothing  while  she  sat 
Watching  a  woman  at  a  table  there 
Lean  to  a  kiss  beneath  a  drooping  hat. 

The  hour  went  by,  we  rose  and  turned  to  go, 
rhe  somber  street  received  us  from  the  glare, 
And   once   more    on   your   shoulders   fell   the 
snow. 


29 


JOY 

I  AM  wild,  I  will  sing  to  the  trees, 
I  will  sing  to  the  stars  in  the  sky, 

I  love,  I  am  loved,  he  is  mine, 
Now  at  last  I  can  die ! 

I  am  sandaled  with  wind  and  with  flame, 
I  have  heart-fire  and  singing  to  give, 

I  can  tread  on  the  grass  or  the  stars, 
Now  at  last  I  can  live ! 


30] 


IN  A  RAILROAD  STATION 

WE  stood  in  the  shrill  electric  light, 
Dumb  and  sick  in  the  whirling  din  — 

We  who  had  all  of  love  to  say 
And  a  single  second  to  say  it  in. 

"Good-by!"     "Good-by  !"  —  you  turned  to 

go. 
I  felt  the  train's  slow  heavy  start,  — 

You  thought  to  see  me  cry,  but  oh 
My  tears  were  hidden  in  my  heart. 


[31] 


IN  THE  TRAIN 

FIELDS  beneath  a  quilt  of  snow 

From  which  the  rocks  and  stubble  peep, 
And  in  the  west  a  shy  white  star 

That  shivers  as  it  wakes  from  sleep. 

The  restless  rumble  of  the  train, 
The  drowsy  people  in  the  car, 

Steel  blue  twilight  in  the  world, 
And  in  my  heart  a  timid  star. 


[32] 


TO  ONE  AWAY 

I  HEARD  a  cry  in  the  night, 
A  thousand  miles  it  came, 

Sharp  as  a  flash  of  light, 
My  name,  my  name ! 

It  was  your  voice  I  heard, 
You  waked  and  loved  me  so 

I  send  you  back  this  word, 
I  know,  I  know  ! 


[33] 


SONG 

LOVE  me  with  your  whole  heart 
Or  give  no  love  to  me, 

Half-love  is  a  poor  thing, 
Neither  bond  nor  free. 

You  must  love  me  gladly 

Soul  and  body  too, 
Or  else  find  a  new  love, 

And  good-by  ,to  you. 


[34] 


DEEP  IN  THE  NIGHT 

DEEP  in  the  night  the  cry  of  a  swallow, 

Under  the  stars  he  flew, 
Keen  as  pain  was  his  call  to  follow 

Over  the  world  to  you. 

Love  in  my  heart  is  a  cry  forever 

Lost  as  the  swallow's  flight, 
Seeking  for  you  and  never,  never 

Stilled  by  the  stars  at  night. 


[35] 


THE  INDIA  WHARF 

HERE  in  the  velvet  stillness 

The  wide  sown  fields  fall  to  the  faint  horizon, 

Sleeping  in  starlight.  .  .  . 

A  year  ago  we  walked  in  the  jangling  city 
Together     ....     forgetful. 
One  by  one  we  crossed  the  avenues, 
Rivers  of  light,  roaring  in  tumult, 
And  came  to  the  narrow,  knotted  streets. 
Thru  the  tense  crowd 

We  went  aloof,  ecstatic,  walking  in  wonder, 
Unconscious  of  our  motion. 
Forever  the   foreign  people  with  dark,  deep- 
seeing  eyes 
Passed  us  and  passed. 
Lights  and  foreign  words  and  foreign  faces, 
I  forgot  them  all ; 

[361 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

I  only  felt  alive,  defiant  of  all  death  and  sorrow, 
Sure  and  elated. 

That  was  the  gift  you  gave  me.   .   .  . 

The  streets  grew  still  more  tangled, 

And  led  at  last  to  water  black  and  glossy, 

Flecked  here  and  there  with  lights,  faint  and 

far  off. 

There  on  a  shabby  building  was  a  sign 
"The  India  Wharf"  .  .  .  and  we  turned  back. 

I  always  felt  we  could  have  taken  ship 

And  crossed  the  bright  green  seas 

To  dreaming  cities  set  on  sacred  streams 

And  palaces 

Of  ivory  and  scarlet. 


37] 


I  SHALL  NOT  CARE 

WHEN  I  am  dead  and  over  me  bright  April 
Shakes  out  her  rain-drenched  hair, 

Tho'  you  should  lean  above  me  broken-hearted, 
I  shall  not  care. 

I  shall  have  peace,  as  leafy  trees  are  peaceful 
When  rain  bends  down  the  bough, 

And  I  shall  be  more  silent  and  cold-hearted 
Than  you  are  now. 


[38] 


DESERT  POOLS 

I  LOVE  too  much;    I  am  a  river 
Surging  with  spring  that  seeks  the  sea, 

I  am  too  generous  a  giver, 
Love  will  not  stoop  to  drink  of  me. 

His  feet  will  turn  to  desert  places 
Shadowless,  reft  of  rain  and  dew, 

Where  stars  stare  down  with  sharpened  faces 
From  heavens  pitilessly  blue. 

And  there  at  midnight  sick  with  faring, 
He  will  stoop  down  in  his  desire 

To  slake  the  thirst  grown  past  all  bearing 
In  stagnant  water  keen  as  fire. 


[39] 


LONGING 

I  AM  not  sorry  for  my  soul 
That  it  must  go  unsatisfied, 

For  it  can  live  a  thousand  times, 
Eternity  is  deep  and  wide. 

I  am  not  sorry  for  my  soul, 
But  oh,  my  body  that  must  go 

Back  to  a  little  drift  of  dust 
Without  the  joy  it  longed  to  know. 


[40] 


PITY 

THEY  never  saw  my  lover's  face, 
They  only  know  our  love  was  brief, 

Wearing  awhile  a  windy  grace 
And  passing  like  an  autumn  leaf. 

They  wonder  why  I  do  not  weep, 

They  think  it  strange  that  I  can  sing, 

They  say,  "Her  love  was  scarcely  deep 
Since  it  has  left  so  slight  a  sting." 

They  never  saw  my  love,  nor  knew 
That  in  my  heart's  most  secret  place 

I  pity  them  as  angels  do 
Men  who  have  never  seen  God's  face. 


41 


AFTER  PARTING 

OH  I  have  sown  my  love  so  wide 
That  he  will  find  it  everywhere; 

It  will  awake  him  in  the  night, 
It  will  enfold  him  in  the  air. 

I  set  my  shadow  in  his  sight 
And  I  have  winged  it  with  desire, 

That  it  may  be  a  cloud  by  day 
And  in  the  night  a  shaft  of  fire. 


[42] 


ENOUGH 

IT  is  enough  for  me  by  day 

To  walk  the  same  bright  earth  with  him ; 
Enough  that  over  us  by  night 

The  same  great  roof  of  stars  is  dim. 

I  have  no  care  to  bind  the  wrind 

Or  set  a  fetter  on  the  sea  — 
It  is  enough  to  feel  his  love 

Blow  by  like  music  over  me. 


43] 


ALCHEMY 

I  LIFT  my  heart  as  spring  lifts  up 
A  yellow  daisy  to  the  rain; 

My  heart  will  be  a  lovely  cup 
Altho'  it  holds  but  pain. 

For  I  shall  learn  from  flower  and  leaf 
That  color  every  drop  they  hold, 

To  change  the  lifeless  wine  of  grief 
To  living  gold. 


44 


FEBRUARY 

THEY  spoke  of  him  I  love 
With  cruel  words  and  gay; 

My  lips  kept  silent  guard 
On  all  I  could  not  say. 

I  heard,  and  down  the  street 
The  lonely  trees  in  the  square 

Stood  in  the  winter  wind 
Patient  and  bare. 

I  heard  ...  oh  voiceless  trees 
Under  the  wind,  I  knew 

The  eager  terrible  spring 
Hidden  hi  you. 


45 


MORNING 

I  WENT  out  on  an  April  morning 
All  alone,  for  my  heart  was  high, 

I  was  a  child  of  the  shining  meadow, 
I  was  a  sister  of  the  sky. 

There  in  the  windy  flood  of  morning 
Longing  lifted  its  weight  from  me, 

Lost  as  a  sob  in  the  midst  of  cheering, 
Swept  as  a  sea-bird  out  to  sea. 


46] 


MAY  NIGHT 

THE  spring  is  fresh  and  fearless 

And  every  leaf  is  new, 
The  world  is  brimmed  with  moonlight, 

The  lilac  brimmed  with  dew. 

Here  in  the  moving  shadows 
I  catch  my  breath  and  sing  — 

My  heart  is  fresh  and  fearless 
And  over-brimmed  with  spring. 


[47] 


DUSK  IN  JUNE 

EVENING,  and  all  the  birds 

In  a  chorus  of  shimmering  sound 

Are  easing  their  hearts  of  joy 
For  miles  around. 

The  air  is  blue  and  sweet, 

The  few  first  stars  are  white,  — 

Oh  let  me  like  the  birds 
Sing  before  night. 


48] 


LOVE-FREE 

I  AM  free  of  love  as  a  bird  flying  south  in  the 

autumn, 

Swift  and  intent,  asking  no  joy  from  another, 
Glad  to  forget  all  of  the  passion  of  April 
Ere  it  was  love-free. 

I  am  free  of  love,  and  I  listen  to  music  lightly, 
But  if  he  returned,  if  he  should  look  at  me  deeply, 
I  should  awake,  I  should  awake  and  remember 
I  am  my  lover's. 


[49 


SUMMER  NIGHT,  RIVERSIDE 

IN  the  wild  soft  summer  darkness 

How  many  and  many  a  night  we  two  together 

Sat  in  the  park  and  watched  the  Hudson 

Wearing  her  lights  like  golden  spangles 

Glinting  on  black  satin. 

The  rail  along  the  curving  pathway 

Was  low  in  a  happy  place  to  let  us  cross, 

And  down  the  hill  a  tree  that  dripped  with  bloom 

Sheltered  us 

While  your  kisses  and  the  flowers, 

Falling,  falling, 

Tangled  my  hair.  .  .  . 

The  frail  white  stars  moved  slowly  over  the  sky. 

And  now,  far  off 

In  the  fragrant  darkness 

The  tree  is  tremulous  again  with  bloom 

For  June  comes  back. 

[50] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

To-night  what  girl 

When  she  goes  home, 

Dreamily  before  her  mirror  shakes  from  her 

hair 
This  year's  blossoms,  clinging  in  its  coils? 


51] 


IN  A  SUBWAY  STATION 

AFTER  a  year  I  came  again  to  the  place; 

The  tireless  lights  and  the  reverberation, 

The  angry  thunder  of  trains  that  burrow  the  ground, 

The  hunted,  hurrying  people  were  still  the  same  — 

But  oh,  another  man  beside  me  and  not  you ! 

Another  voice  and  other  eyes  in  mine  ! 

And  suddenly  I  turned  and  saw  again 

The  gleaming  curve  of  tracks,  the  bridge  above  — 

They  were  burned  deep  into  my  heart  before, 

The  night  I  watched  them  to  avoid  your  eyes, 

When  you  were  saying,  "Oh,  look  up  at  me!" 

When  you  were  saying,  "  Will  you  never  love  me  ?  " 

And  when  I  answered  with  a  lie.     Oh  then 

You  dropped  your  eyes.     I  felt  your  utter  pain. 

I  would  have  died  to  say  the  truth  to  you. 
****** 
After  a  year  I  came  again  to  the  place  — 
The  hunted  hurrying  people  were  still  the  same.  .  .  . 
[521 


AFTER  LOVE 

THERE  is  no  magic  when  we  meet, 
We  speak  as  other  people  do, 

You  work  no  miracle  for  me 
Nor  I  for  you. 

You  were  the  wind  and  I  the  sea  — 
There  is  no  splendor  any  more, 

I  have  grown  listless  as  the  pool 
Beside  the  shore. 

But  tho'  the  pool  is  safe  from  storm 
And  from  the  tide  has  found  surcease, 

It  grows  more  bitter  than  the  sea, 
For  all  its  peace. 


[53] 


DOCKYARD  ROSES 

I  HAVE  come  the  selfsame  path 

To  the  selfsame  door, 
Years  have  left  the  roses  there 

Burning  as  before. 

While  I  watch  them  in  the  wind 
Quick  the  hot  tears  start  — 

Strange  so  frail  a  flame  outlasts 
Fire  in  the  heart. 


[54] 


A  PRAYER 

UNTIL  I  lose  my  soul  and  lie 
Blind  to  the  beauty  of  the  earth, 

Deaf  tho'  a  lyric  wind  goes  by, 
Dumb  in  a  storm  of  mirth ; 

Until  my  heart  is  quenched  at  length 
And  I  have  left  the  land  of  men, 

Oh  let  me  love  with  all  my  strength 
Careless  if  I  am  loved  again. 


[55] 


II 


INDIAN  SUMMER 

LYRIC  night  of  the  lingering  Indian  Summer, 
Shadowy  fields  that  are  scentless  but  full  of  sing 
ing, 

Never  a  bird,  but  the  passionless  chant  of  insects, 
Ceaseless,  insistent. 

The  grasshopper's  horn,  and  far  off,  high  in  the 

maples 

The  wheel  of  a  locust  leisurely  grinding  the  silence, 
Under  a  moon  wraning  and  worn  and  broken, 
Tired  with  summer. 

Let  me  remember  you,  voices  of  little  insects, 
Weeds  in   the  moonlight,   fields  that  are  tangled 

with  asters, 

Let  me  remember  you,  soon  will  the  winter  be  on 
us, 

Snow-hushed  and  heartless. 
[591 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 
Over  my  soul  murmur  your  mute  benediction 
While  I  gaze,  oh  fields  that  rest  after  harvest, 
As  those  who  part  look  long  in  the  eyes  they  lean 
to, 

Lest  they  forget  them. 


60 


THE  SEA  WIND 

I  AM  a  pool  in  a  peaceful  place, 

I  greet  the  great  sky  face  to  face, 

I  know  the  stars  and  the  stately  moon 

And  the  wind  that  runs  with  rippling  shoon  — 

But  why  does  it  always  bring  to  me 

The  far-off,  beautiful  sound  of  the  sea? 

The  marsh-grass  weaves  me  a  wall  of  green, 
But  the  wind  comes  whispering  in  between, 
In  the  dead  of  night  when  the  sky  is  deep 
The  wind  comes  waking  me  out  of  sleep  — 
Why  does  it  always  bring  to  me 
The  far-off,  terrible  call  of  the  sea? 


61] 


THE  CLOUD 

I  AM  a  cloud  in  the  heaven's  height, 

The  stars  are  lit  for  my  delight, 

Tireless  and  changeful,  swift  and  free, 

I  cast  my  shadow  on  hill  and  sea  — 

But  why  do  the  pines  on  the  mountain's  crest 

Call  to  me  always,  "Rest,  rest"? 

I  throw  my  mantle  over  the  moon 
And  I  blind  the  sun  on  his  throne  at  noon, 
Nothing  can  tame  me,  nothing  can  bind, 
I  am  a  child  of  the  heartless  wind  — 
But  oh  the  pines  on  the  mountain's  crest 
Whispering  always,  "Rest,  rest." 


62] 


THE  POOR  HOUSE 

HOPE  went  by  and  Peace  went  by 

And  would  not  enter  in; 
Youth  went  by  and  Health  went  by 

And  Love  that  is  their  kin. 

Those  within  the  house  shed  tears 

On  their  bitter  bread; 
Some  were  old  and  some  were  mad, 

And  some  were  sick  a-bed. 

Gray  Death  saw  the  wretched  house 
And  even  he  passed  by  — 

"They  have  never  lived,"  he  said, 
"They  can  wait  to  die." 


63] 


NEW  YEAR'S  DAWN  —  BROADWAY 

WHEN  the  horns  wear  thin 
And  the  noise,  like  a  garment  outworn, 
Falls  from  the  night, 
The  tattered  and  shivering  night, 
That  thinks  she  is  gay; 
When  the  patient  silence  comes  back, 
And  retires, 
And  returns, 

Rebuffed  by  a  ribald  song, 
Wounded  by  vehement  cries, 
Fleeing  again  to  the  stars  — 
Ashamed  of  her  sister  the  night; 
Oh,  then  they  steal  home, 
The  blinded,  the  pitiful  ones 
With  their  gew-gaws  still  in  their  hands, 
Reeling  with  odorous  breath 
And  thick,  coarse  words  on  their  tongues. 
They  get  them  to  bed,  somehow, 
[641 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

And  sleep  the  forgiving, 

Comes  thru  the  scattering  tumult 

And  closes  their  eyes. 

The  stars  sink  down  ashamed 

And  the  dawn  awakes, 

Like  a  youth  who  steals  from  a  brothel, 

Dizzy  and  sick. 


65] 


THE  STAR 

A  WHITE  star  born  in  the  evening  glow 
Looked  to  the  round  green  world  below, 
And  saw  a  pool  in  a  wooded  place 
That  held  like  a  jewel  her  mirrored  face. 
She  said  to  the  pool :    "  Oh,  wondrous  deep, 
I  love  you,  I  give  you  my  light  to  keep. 
Oh,  more  profound  than  the  moving  sea 
That  never  has  shown  myself  to  me! 
Oh,  fathomless  as  the  sky  is  far, 
Hold  forever  your  tremulous  star  ! " 

But  out  of  the  woods  as  night  grew  cool 
A  brown  pig  came  to  the  little  pool; 
It  grunted  and  splashed  and  waded  in 
And  the  deepest  place  but  reached  its  chin. 
The  water  gurgled  with  tender  glee 
And  the  mud  churned  up  in  it  turbidly. 

The  star  grew  pale  and  hid  her  face 
In  a  bit  of  floating  cloud  like  lace. 
[66] 


DOCTORS 

EVERY  night  I  lie  awake 

And  every  day  I  lie  abed 
And  hear  the  doctors,  Pain  and  Death, 

Conferring  at  my  head. 

They  speak  in  scientific  tones, 

Professional  and  low  — 
One  argues  for  a  speedy  cure, 

The  other,  sure  and  slow. 

To  one  so  humble  as  myself 

It  should  be  matter  for  some  pride 

To  have  such  noted  fellows  here, 
Conferring  at  my  side. 


[67] 


THE  INN  OF  EARTH 

I  CAME  to  the  crowded  Inn  of  Earth, 
And  called  for  a  cup  of  wine, 

But  the  Host  went  by  with  averted  eye 
From  a  thirst  as  keen  as  mine. 

Then  I  sat  down  with  weariness 

And  asked  a  bit  of  bread, 
But  the  Host  went  by  with  averted  eye 

And  never  a  word  he  said. 

While  always  from  the  outer  night 

The  waiting  souls  came  in 
With  stifled  cries  of  sharp  surprise 

At  all  the  light  and  din. 

"Then  give  me  a  bed  to  sleep,"  I  said, 
"For  midnight  comes  apace"  — 

But  the  Host  went  by  with  averted  eye 
And  I  never  saw  his  face. 
[08] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

"Since  there  is  neither  food  nor  rest, 
I  go  where  I  fared  before"  — 

But  the  Host  went  by  with  averted  eye 
And  barred  the  outer  door. 


[69] 


IN  THE  CARPENTER'S  SHOP 

MARY  sat  in  the  corner  dreaming, 

Dim  was  the  room  and  low, 
While  in  the  dusk,  the  saw  went  screaming 
To  and  fro. 

Jesus  and  Joseph  toiled  together, 

Mary  was  watching  them, 
Thinking  of  kings  in  the  wintry  weather 
At  Bethlehem. 

Mary  sat  in  the  corner  thinking, 

Jesus  had  grown  a  man; 
One  by  one  her  hopes  were  sinking 
As  the  years  ran. 

Jesus  and  Joseph  toiled  together, 

Mary's  thoughts  were  far  — 
Angels  sang  in  the  wintry  weather 
Under  a  star. 
[70] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Mary  sat  in  the  corner  weeping, 

Bitter  and  hot  her  tears  — 
Little  faith  were  the  angels  keeping 
All  the  years. 


[71] 


THE  CARPENTER'S  SON 

THE  summer  dawn  came  over-soon, 
The  earth  was  like  hot  iron  at  noon 

In  Nazareth; 

There  fell  no  rain  to  ease  the  heat, 
And  dusk  drew  on  with  tired  feet 

And  stifled  breath. 

The  shop  was  low  and  hot  and  square, 
And  fresh-cut  wood  made  sharp  the  air, 

While  all  day  long 
The  saw  went  tearing  thru  the  oak 
That  moaned  as  tho'  the  tree's  heart  broke 

Beneath  its  wrong. 

The  narrow  street  was  full  of  cries, 
Of  bickering  and  snarling  lies 
In  many  keys  — 
[721 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

The  tongues  of  Egypt  and  of  Rome 
And  lands  beyond  the  shifting  foam 
Of  windy  seas. 

Sometimes  a  ruler  riding  fast 

Scattered  the  dark  crowds  as  he  passed, 

And  drove  them  close 
In  doorways,  drawing  broken  breath 
Lest  they  be  trampled  to  their  death 

Where  the  dust  rose. 

There  in  the  gathering  night  and  noise 
A  group  of  Galilean  boys 

Crowding  to  see 

Gray  Joseph  toiling  with  his  son, 
Saw  Jesus,  when  the  task  was  done, 

Turn  wearily. 

He  passed  them  by  with  hurried  tread 
Silently,  nor  raised  his  head, 
He  who  looked  up 
[73] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Drinking  all  beauty  from  his  birth 

Out  of  the  heaven  and  the  earth 

As  from  a  cup. 

And  Mary,  who  was  growing  old, 
Knew  that  the  pottage  would  be  cold 

When  he  returned ; 
He  hungered  only  for  the  night, 
And  westward,  bending  sharp  and  bright, 

The  thin  moon  burned. 

He  reached  the  open  western  gate 
Where  whining  halt  and  leper  wait, 

And  came  at  last 

To  the  blue  desert,  where  the  deep 
Great  seas  of  twilight  lay  asleep, 

Windless  and  vast. 

With  shining  eyes  the  stars  awoke, 
The  dew  lay  heavy  on  his  cloak, 
The  world  was  dim; 
[741 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

And  in  the  stillness  he  could  hear 
His  secret  thoughts  draw  very  near 
And  call  to  him. 

Faint  voices  lifted  shrill  with  pain 
And  multitudinous  as  rain ; 

From  all  the  lands 
And  all  the  villages  thereof 
Men  crying  for  the  gift  of  love 

With  outstretched  hands. 

Voices  that  called  with  ceaseless  crying, 
The  broken  and  the  blind,  the  dying, 

And  those  grown  dumb 
Beneath  oppression,  and  he  heard 
Upon  their  lips  a  single  word, 

"Come!" 

Their  cries  engulfed  him  like  the  night, 
The  moon  put  out  her  placid  light 
And  black  and  low 
[751 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Nearer  the  heavy  thunder  drew, 
Hushing  the  voices  ...  yet  he  knew 

That  he  would  go. 

****** 
A  quick-spun  thread  of  lightning  burns, 
And  for  a  flash  the  day  returns  — 

He  only  hears 

Joseph,  an  old  man  bent  and  white 
Toiling  alone  from  morn  till  night 

Thru  all  the  years. 

Swift  clouds  make  all  the  heavens  blind, 
A  storm  is  running  on  the  wind  — 

He  only  sees 

How  Mary  will  stretch  out  her  hands 
Sobbing,  who  never  understands 

Voices  like  these. 


76] 


THE  MOTHER  OF  A  POET 

SHE  is  too  kind,  I  think,  for  mortal  things, 
Too  gentle  for  the  gusty  ways  of  earth; 
God  gave  to  her  a  shy  and  silver  mirth, 
And  made  her  soul  as  clear 
And  softly  singing  as  an  orchard  spring's 
In  sheltered  hollows  all  the  sunny  year  - 
A  spring  that  thru  the  leaning  grass  looks  up 
And  holds  all  heaven  in  its  clarid  cup, 
Mirror  to  holy  meadows  high  and  blue 
With  stars  like  drops  of  dew. 

I  love  to  think  that  never  tears  at  night 
Have  made  her  eyes  less  bright; 
That  all  her  girlhood  thru 
Never  a  cry  of  love  made  over-tense 
Her  voice's  innocence; 
That  in  her  hands  have  lain, 
Flowers  beaten  by  the  rain, 
[77] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

And  little  birds  before  they  learned  to  sing 
Drowned  in  the  sudden  ecstasy  of  spring. 

I  love  to  think  that  with  a  wistful  wonder 

She  held  her  baby  warm  against  her  breast; 

That  never  any  fear  awoke  whereunder 

She  shuddered  at  her  gift,  or  trembled  lest 

Thru  the  great  doors  of  birth 

Here  to  a  windy  earth 

She  lured  from  heaven  a  half-unwilling  guest. 

She  caught  and  kept  his  first  vague  flickering  smile, 
The  faint  upleaping  of  his  spirit's  fire; 
And  for  a  long  sweet  while 
In  her  was  all  he  asked  of  earth  or  heaven  — 
But  in  the  end  how  far, 
East  every  shaken  star, 
Should  leap  at  last  that  arrow-like  desire, 
His  full-grown  manhood's  keen 
Ardor  toward  the  unseen 
Dark  mystery  beyond  the  Pleiads  seven. 
[781 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

And  in  her  heart  she  heard 

His  first  dim-spoken  word  — 

She  only  of  them  all  could  understand, 

Flushing  to  feel  at  last 

The  silence  over-past, 

Thrilling  as  tho'  her  hand  had  touched  God's  hand, 

But  in  the  end  how  many  words 

Winged  on  a  flight  she  could  not  follow, 

Farther  than  skyward  lark  or  swallow, 

His  lips  should  free  to  lands  she  never  knew; 

Braver  than  white  sea-faring  birds 

With  a  fearless  melody, 

Flying  over  a  shining  sea, 

A  star-white  song  between  the  blue  and  blue. 

Oh  I  have  seen  a  lake  as  clear  and  fair 
As  it  were  molten  air, 
Lifting  a  lily  upward  to  the  sun. 
How  should  the  water  know  the  glowing  heart 
That  ever  to  the  heaven  lifts  its  fire, 
[79] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

A  golden  and  unchangeable  desire? 
The  water  only  knows 
The  faint  and  rosy  glows 
Of  under-petals,  opening  apart. 
Yet  in  the  soul  of  earth, 
Deep  in  the  primal  ground, 
Its  searching  roots  are  wound, 
And  centuries  have  struggled  toward  its  birth. 
So,  in  the  man  who  sings, 
All  of  the  voiceless  horde 
From  the  cold  dawn  of  things 
Have  their  reward; 
All  in  whose  pulses  ran 
Blood  that  is  his  at  last, 
From  the  first  stooping  man 
Far  in  the  winnowed  past. 
Out  of  the  tumult  of  their  love  and  mating 
Each  one  created,  seeing  life  was  good  — 
Dumb,  till  at  last  the  song  that  they  were  waiting 
Breaks  like  brave  April  thru  a  wintry  wood. 
[801 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

But  what  of  her  whose  heart  is  troubled  by  it, 
The  mother  who  would  soothe  and  set  him  free, 
Fearing  the  song's  storm-shaken  ecstasy  — 
Oh,  as  the  moon  that  has  no  power  to  quiet 
The  strong  wind-driven  sea. 


81] 


IN  MEMORIAM  F.  O.  S. 

You  go  a  long  and  lovely  journey, 
For  all  the  stars,  like  burning  dew, 

Are  luminous  and  luring  footprints 
Of  souls  adventurous  as  you. 

Oh,  if  you  lived  on  earth  elated, 
How  is  it  now  that  you  can  run 

Free  of  the  weight  of  flesh  and  faring 
Far  past  the  birthplace  of  the  sun? 


82 


TWILIGHT 

THE  stately  tragedy  of  dusk 
Drew  to  its  perfect  close, 

The  virginal  white  evening  star 
Sank,  and  the  red  moon  rose. 


[83] 


SWALLOW  FLIGHT 

I  LOVE  my  hour  of  wind  and  light, 
I  love  men's  faces  and  their  eyes, 

I  love  my  spirit's  veering  flight 
Like  swallows  under  evening  skies. 


[84 


THOUGHTS 

WHEN  I  can  make  my  thoughts  come  forth 
To  walk  like  ladies  up  and  down, 

Each  one  puts  on  before  the  glass 
Her  most  becoming  hat  and  gown. 

But  oh,  the  shy  and  eager  thoughts 
That  hide  and  will  not  get  them  dressed, 

Why  is  it  that  they  always  seem 
So  much  more  lovely  than  the  rest? 


[85] 


TO  DICK,   ON   HIS   SIXTH   BIRTHDAY 

THO'  I  am  very  old  and  wise, 

And  you  are  neither  wise  nor  old, 
When  I  look  far  into  your  eyes, 

I  know  things  I  was  never  told : 
I  know  how  flame  must  strain  and  fret 
Prisoned  in  a  mortal  net; 
How  joy  with  over-eager  wings, 
Bruises  the  small  heart  where  he  sings; 
How  too  much  life,  like  too  much  gold, 
Is  sometimes  very  hard  to  hold.  .  .  . 
All  that  is  talking  —  but  I  know 
This  much  is  true,  six  years  ago 
An  angel  living  near  the  moon 
Walked  thru  the  sky  and  sang  a  tune 
Plucking  stars  to  make  his  crown  — 
And  suddenly  two  stars  fell  down, 
Two  falling  arrows  made  of  light. 
Six  years  ago  this  very  night 
[861 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

I  saw  them  fall  and  wondered  why 
The  angel  dropped  them  from  the  sky 
But  when  I  saw  your  eyes  I  knew 
The  angel  sent  the  stars  to  you. 


[87] 


TO  ROSE 

ROSE,  when  I  remember  you, 
Little  lady,  scarcely  two, 
I  am  suddenly  aware 
Of  the  angels  in  the  air. 
All  your  softly  gracious  ways 
Make  an  island  in  my  days 
Where  my  thoughts  fly  back  to  be 
Sheltered  from  too  strong  a  sea. 
All  your  luminous  delight 
Shines  before  me  in  the  night 
When  I  grope  for  sleep  and  find 
Only  shadows  in  my  mind. 

Rose,  when  I  remember  you, 
White  and  glowing,  pink  and  new, 
With  so  swift  a  sense  of  fun 
Altho'  life  has  just  begun; 
[881 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

With  so  sure  a  pride  of  place 
In  your  very  infant  face, 
I  should  like  to  make  a  prayer 
To  the  angels  in  the  air : 
"If  an  angel  ever  brings 
Me  a  baby  in  her  wings, 
Please  be  certain  that  it  grows 
Very,  very  much  like  Rose." 


[89 


THE  FOUNTAIN 

OH  in  the  deep  blue  night 

The  fountain  sang  alone; 
It  sang  to  the  drowsy  heart 

Of  the  satyr  carved  in  stone. 

The  fountain  sang  and  sang 
But  the  satyr  never  stirred  — 

Only  the  great  white  moon 
In  the  empty  heaven  heard. 

The  fountain  sang  and  sang 

And  on  the  marble  rim 
The  milk-white  peacocks  slept, 

Their  dreams  were  strange  and  dim. 

Bright  dew  was  on  the  grass, 

And  on  the  ilex  dew, 
The  dreamy  milk-white  birds 

Were  all  a-glisten  too. 
[901 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

The  fountain  sang  and  sang 
The  things  one  cannot  tell, 

The  dreaming  peacocks  stirred 
And  the  gleaming  dew-drops  fell, 


91] 


THE  ROSE 

BENEATH  my  chamber  window 
Pierrot  was  singing,  singing; 
I  heard  his  lute  the  whole  night  thru 

Until  the  east  was  red. 
Alas,  alas,  Pierrot, 
I  had  no  rose  for  flinging 
Save  one  that  drank  my  tears  for  dew 
Before  its  leaves  were  dead. 

I  found  it  in  the  darkness, 
I  kissed  it  once  and  threw  it, 
The  petals  scattered  over  him, 
His  song  was  turned  to  joy; 
And  he  will  never  know  — 
Alas,  the  one  who  knew  it !  — 
The  rose  was  plucked  when  dusk  was  dim 
Beside  a  laughing  boy. 


92 


DREAMS 

I  GAVE  my  life  to  another  lover, 
I  gave  my  love,  and  all,  and   all  — 

But  over  a  dream  the  past  will  hover, 
Out  of  a  dream  the  past  will  call. 

I  tear  myself  from  sleep  with  a  shiver 
But  on  my  breast  a  kiss  is  hot, 

And  by  my  bed  the  ghostly  giver 
Is  waiting  tho'  I  see  him  not. 


93] 


"I  AM  NOT  YOURS" 

I  AM  not  yours,  not  lost  in  you, 
Not  lost,  altho'  I  long  to  be 

Lost  as  a  candle  lit  at  noon, 
Lost  as  a  snow-flake  in  the  sea. 

You  love  me,  and  I  find  you  still 
A  spirit  beautiful  and  bright, 

Yet  I  am  I,  who  long  to  be 
Lost  as  a  light  is  lost  in  light. 

Oh  plunge  me  deep  in  love  —  put  out 
My  senses,  leave  me  deaf  and  blind, 

Swept  by  the  tempest  of  your  love, 
A  taper  in  a  rushing  wind. 


94 


PIERROT'S  SONG 

(For  a  picture  by  Dugald  Walker) 

LADY,  light  in  the  east  hangs  low, 
Draw  your  veils  of  dream  apart, 

Under  the  casement  stands  Pierrot 
Making  a  song  to  ease  his  heart. 

(Yet  do  not  break  the  song  too  soon  — 
I  love  to  sing  in  the  paling  moon.) 

The  petals  are  falling,  heavy  with  dew, 
The  stars  have  fainted  out  of  the  sky, 

Come  to  me,  come,  or  else  I  too, 

Faint  with  the  weight  of  love  will  die, 

(She  comes  —  alas,  I  hoped  to  make 
Another  stanza  for  her  sake !) 


95] 


NIGHT  IN  ARIZONA 

THE  moon  is  a  charring  ember 

Dying  into  the  dark; 
Off  in  the  crouching  mountains 
Coyotes  bark. 

The  stars  are  heavy  in  heaven, 
Too  great  for  the  sky  to  hold 
What  if  they  fell  and  shattered 
The  earth  with  gold? 

No  lights  are  over  the  mesa, 
The  wind  is  hard  and  wild, 
I  stand  at  the  darkened  window 
And  cry  like  a  child. 


96] 


DUSK  IN  WAR  TIME 

A  HALF-HOUR  more  and  you  will  lean 
To  gather  me  close  in  the  old  sweet  way  — 

But  oh,  to  the  woman  over  the  sea 
Who  will  come  at  the  close  of  day? 

A  half-hour  more  and  I  will  hear 

The  key  in  the  latch  and  the  strong  quick 

tread  — 
But  oh,  the  woman  over  the  sea 

Waiting  at  dusk  for  one  who  is  dead  I 


97] 


SPRING  IN  WAR  TIME 

/XI  FEEL  the  Spring  far  off,  far  off, 

The  faint  far  scent  of  bud  and  leaf  — & 

7Oh  how  can  Spring  take  heart  to  come 
To  a  world  in  grief. 
Deep  grief?" 

The  sun  turns  north,  the  days  grow  long, 
Later  the  evening  star  grows  bright  — 

How  can  the  daylight  linger  on 
For  men  to  fight, 
Still  fight? 

The  grass  is  waking  in  the  ground, 

Soon  it  will  rise  and  blow  in  waves  — 
How  can  it  have  the  heart  to  sway 

Over  the  graves,  7 
\ 

New  graves? 

[98] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Under  the  boughs  where  lovers  walked 
The  apple-blooms  will  shed  their  breath 

But  what  of  all  the  lovers  now 
Parted  by  death, 
Gray  Death? 


99 


WHILE  I  MAY 

WIND  and  hail  and  veering  rain, 
Driven  mist  that  veils  the  day, 

Soul's  distress  and  body's  pain, 
I  would  bear  you  while  I  may0 

I  would  love  you  if  I  might, 
For  so  soon  my  life  will  be 

Buried  in  a  lasting  night, 
Even  pain  denied  to  me. 


[100] 


DEBT 

WHAT  do  I  owe  to  you 

Who  loved  me  deep  and  long? 
You  never  gave  my  spirit  wings 

Or  gave  my  heart  a  song. 

But  oh,  to  him  I  loved 
Who  loved  me  not  at  all, 

I  owe  the  little  open  gate 
That  led  thru  heaven's  wall. 


101 


FROM  THE  NORTH 

THE  northern  woods  are  delicately  sweet, 
The  lake  is  folded  softly  by  the  shore, 
But  I  am  restless  for  the  subway's  roar, 

The  thunder  and  the  hurrying  of  feet. 

I  try  to  sleep,  but  still  my  eyelids  beat 
Against  the  image  of  the  tower  that  bore 
Me  high  aloft,  as  if  thru  heaven's  door 

I  watched  the  world  from  God's  unshaken  seat. 

I  would  go  back  and  breathe  with  quickened  sense 
The    tunnel's    strong    hot    breath    of   powdered 
steel ; 

But  at  the  ferries  I  should  leave  the  tense 

Dark  air  behind,  and  I  should  mount  and  be 
One  among  many  who  are  thrilled  to  feel 
The  first  keen  sea-breath  from  the  open  sea. 


102] 


THE  LIGHTS  OF  NEW  YORK 

THE  lightning  spun  your  garment  for  the  night 
Of  silver  filaments  with  fire  shot  thru, 
A  broidery  of  lamps  that  lit  for  you 

The  steadfast  splendor  of  enduring  light. 

The  moon  drifts  dimly  in  the  heaven's  height,  *- 
Watching  with  wonder  how  the  earth  she  knew 
That  lay  so  long  wrapped  deep  in  dark  and  dew, 

Should  wear  upon  her  breast  a  star  so  white. 

The  festivals  of  Babylon  were  dark 
With    flaring    flambeaux    that    the    wind    blew 
down ; 

The  Saturnalia  were  a  wild  boy's  lark 

With   rain-quenched   torches   dripping   thru   the 
town  — 

But  you  have  found  a  god  and  filched  from  him 

A  fire  that  neither  wind  nor  rain  can  dim. 


103] 


SEA  LONGING 

A  THOUSAND  miles  beyond  this  sun-steeped  wall 
Somewhere  the  waves  creep  cool  along  the  sand, 
The  ebbing  tide  forsakes  the  listless  land 

With  the  old  murmur,  long  and  musical; 

The  windy  waves  mount  up  and  curve  and  fall, 
And  round  the  rocks  the  foam  blows  up  like 

snow,  — 
Tho'  I  am  inland  far,  I  hear  and  know, 

For  I  was  born  the  sea's  eternal  thrall. 

I  would  that  I  were  there  and  over  me 
The  cold  insistence  of  the  tide  would  roll, 
Quenching    this    burning    thing    men     call    the 
soul,  — 

Then  with  the  ebbing  I  should  drift  and  be 
Less  than  the  smallest  shell  along  the  shoal, 

Less  than  the  sea-gulls  calling  to  the  sea. 


104] 


THE  RIVER 

I  CAME  from  the  sunny  valleys 
And  sought  for  the  open  sea, 

For  I  thought  in  its  gray  expanses 
My  peace  would  come  to  me. 

I  came  at  last  to  the  ocean 
And  found  it  wild  and  black, 

And  I  cried  to  the  windless  valleys, 
"Be  kind  and  take  me  back!  " 

But  the  thirsty  tide  ran  inland, 
And  the  salt  waves  drank  of  me, 

And  I  who  was  fresh  as  the  rainfall 
Am  bitter  as  the  sea. 


105 


LEAVES 

ONE  by  one,  like  leaves  from  a  tree, 
All  my  faiths  have  forsaken  me; 
But  the  stars  above  my  head 
Burn  in  white  and  delicate  red, 
And  beneath  my  feet  the  earth 
Brings  the  sturdy  grass  to  birth. 
I  who  was  content  to  be 
But  a  silken-singing  tree, 
But  a  rustle  of  delight 
In  the  wistful  heart  of  night  — 
I  have  lost  the  leaves  that  knew 
Touch  of  rain  and  weight  of  dew. 
Blinded  by  a  leafy  crown 
I  looked  neither  up  nor  down  — 
But  the  little  leaves  that  die 
Have  left  me  room  to  see  the  sky; 
Now  for  the  first  time  I  know 
Stars  above  and  earth  below. 
[1061 


THE  ANSWER 

WHEN  I  go  back  to  earth 
And  all  my  joyous  body 
Puts  off  the  red  and  white 
That  once  had  been  so  proud, 
If  men  should  pass  above 
With  false  and  feeble  pity, 
My  dust  will  find  a  voice 
To  answer  them  aloud : 

"Be  still,  I  am  content, 

Take  back  your  poor  compassion, 

Joy  was  a  flame  in  me 

Too  steady  to  destroy; 

Lithe  as  a  bending  reed 

Loving  the  storm  that  sways  her 

I  found  more  joy  in  sorrow 

Than  you  could  find  in  joy." 


107 


Ill 


OVER  THE  ROOFS 


OH  chimes  set  high  on  the  sunny  tower 

Ring  on,  ring  on  unendingly, 
Make  all  the  hours  a  single  hour, 
For  when  the  dusk  begins  to  flower, 

The  man  I  love  will  come  to  me !  .  .  . 

But  no,  go  slowly  as  you  will, 

I  should  not  bid  you  hasten  so, 
For  while  I  wait  for  love  to  come, 
Some  other  girl  is  standing  dumb, 
Fearing  her  love  will  go. 

II 

Oh  white  steam  over  the  roofs,  blow  high! 

Oh  chimes  in  the  tower  ring  clear  and  free 
Oh  sun  awake  in  the  covered  sky, 

For  the  man  I  love,  loves  me !  ... 

[Ill] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Oh  drifting  steam  disperse  and  die, 

Oh  tower  stand  shrouded  toward  the  south, 

Fate  heard  afar  my  happy  cry, 
And  laid  her  finger  on  my  mouth. 

Ill 

The  dusk  was  blue  with  blowing  mist, 
The  lights  were  spangles  in  a  veil, 

And  from  the  clamor  far  below 
Floated  faint  music  like  a  wail. 

It  voiced  what  I  shall  never  speak, 
My  heart  was  breaking  all  night  long, 

But  when  the  dawn  was  hard  and  gray, 
My  tears  distilled  into  a  song. 

IV 

I  said,  "I  have  shut  my  heart 

As  one  shuts  an  open  door, 
That  Love  may  starve  therein 

And  trouble  me  no  more." 
[112] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

But  over  the  roofs  there  came 
The  wet  new  wind  of  May, 

And  a  tune  blew  up  from  the  curb 
Where  the  street-pianos  play. 

My  room  was  white  with  the  sun 
And  Love  cried  out  in  me, 

"I  am  strong,  I  will  break  your  heart 
Unless  you  set  me  free." 


113] 


A  CRY 

OH,  there  are  eyes  that  he  can  see, 

And  hands  to  make  his  hands  rejoice, 
But  to  my  lover  I  must  be 
Only  a  voice. 

Oh,  there  are  breasts  to  bear  his  head, 

And  lips  whereon  his  lips  can  lie, 
But  I  must  be  till  I  am  dead 
Only  a  cry. 


114 


CHANCE 

How  many  times  we  must  have  met 
Here  on  the  street  as  strangers  do, 

Children  of  chance  we  were,  who  passed 
The  door  of  heaven  and  never  knew. 


115] 


IMMORTAL 

So  soon  my  body  will  have  gone 

Beyond  the  sound  and  sight  of  men, 
And  tho'  it  wakes  and  suffers  now, 

Its  sleep  will  be  unbroken  then; 
But  oh,  my  frail  immortal  soul 

That  will  not  sleep  forevermore, 
A  leaf  borne  onward  by  the  blast, 

A  wave  that  never  finds  the  shore. 


116] 


AFTER  DEATH 

Now  while  my  lips  are  living 
Their  words  must  stay  unsaid, 

And  will  my  soul  remember 
To  speak  when  I  am  dead? 

Yet  if  my  soul  remembered 
You  would  not  heed  it,  dear, 

For  now  you  must  not  listen, 
And  then  you  could  not  hear. 


117] 


TESTAMENT 

I  SAID,  "I  will  take  my  life 

And  throw  it  away; 
I  who  was  fire  and  song 

Will  turn  to  clay." 

"I  will  lie  no  more  in  the  night 

With  shaken  breath, 
I  will  toss  my  heart  in  the  air 

To  be  caught  by  Death." 

But  out  of  the  night  I  heard, 
Like  the  inland  sound  of  the  sea, 

The  hushed  and  terrible  sob 
Of  all  humanity. 

Then  I  said,  "Oh  who  am  I 
To  scorn  God  to  his  face? 

I  will  bow  my  head  and  stay 
And  suffer  with  my  race." 
[1181 


GIFTS  „ 

I  GAVE  my  first  love  laughter, 
I  gave  my  second  tears, 

I  gave  my  third  love  silence 
Thru  all  the  years. 

My  first  love  gave  me  singing, 
My  second  eyes  to  see, 

But  oh,  it  was  my  third  love 
Who  gave  my  soul  to  me. 


119] 


IV 


FROM  THE  SEA 

ALL  beauty  calls  you  to  me,  and  you  seem, 
Past  twice  a  thousand  miles  of  shifting  sea, 
To  reach  me.     You  are  as  the  wind  I  breathe 
Here  on  the  ship's  sun-smitten  topmost  deck, 
With  only  light  between  the  heavens  and  me. 
I  feel  your  spirit  and  I  close  my  eyes, 
Knowing  the  bright  hair  blowing  in  the  sun, 

The  eager  whisper  and  the  searching  eyes. 
****** 
Listen,  I  love  you.     Do  not  turn  your  face 
Nor  touch  me.     Only  stand  and  watch  awhile 
The  blue  unbroken  circle  of  the  sea. 
Look  far  away  and  let  me  ease  my  heart 
Of  words  that  beat  in  it  with  broken  win£, 
Look  far  away,  and  if  I  say  too  much, 
Forget  that  I  am  speaking.     Only  watch, 
How  like  a  gull  that  sparkling  sinks  to  rest, 
[1231 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

The  foam-crest  drifts  along  a  happy  wave 
Toward  the  bright  verge,  the  boundary  of  the  world. 

****** 
I  am  so  weak  a  thing,  praise  me  for  this, 
That  in  some  strange  way  I  was  strong  enough 
To  keep  my  love  unuttered  and  to  stand 
Altho'  I  longed  to  kneel  to  you  that  night 
You  looked  at  me  with  ever-calling  eyes. 
Was  I  not  calm?     And  if  you  guessed  my  love 
You  thought  it  something  delicate  and  free, 
Soft  as  the  sound  of  fir-trees  in  the  wind, 
Fleeting  as  phosphorescent  stars  in  foam. 
Yet  in  my  heart  there  was  a  beating  storm 
Bending  my  thoughts  before  it,  and  I  strove 
To  say  too  little  lest  I  say  too  much, 
And  from  my  eyes  to  drive  love's  happy  shame. 
Yet  when  I  heard  your  name  the  first  far  time 
It  seemed  like  other  names  to  me,  and  I 
Was  all  unconscious,  as  a  dreaming  river 
That  nears  at  last  its  long  predestined  sea; 
f  1241 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

And  when  you  spoke  to  me,  I  did  not  know 
That  to  my  life's  high  altar  came  its  priest. 
But  now  I  know  between  my  God  and  me 
You  stand  forever,  nearer  God  than  I, 
And  in  your  hands  with  faith  and  utter  joy 
I  would  that  I  could  lay  my  woman's  soul. 
****** 
Oh,  my  love 

To  whom  I  cannot  come  with  any  gift 
Of  body  or  of  soul,  I  pass  and  go. 
But  sometimes  when  you  hear  blown  back  to  you 
My  wistful,  far-off  singing  touched  with  tears, 
Know  that  I  sang  for  you  alone  to  hear, 
And  that  I  wondered  if  the  wind  would  bring 
To  him  who  tuned  my  heart  its  distant  song. 
So  might  a  woman  who  in  loneliness 
Had  borne  a  child,  dreaming  of  days  to  come, 
Wonder  if  it  would  please  its  father's  eyes. 
But  long  before  I  ever  heard  your  name, 
Always  the  undertone's  unchanging  note 
[125] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

In  all  my  singing  had  prefigured  you, 
Foretold  you  as  a  spark  foretells  a  flame,, 
Yet  I  was  free  as  an  untethered  cloud 
In  the  great  space  between  the  sky  and  sea, 
And  might  have  blown  before  the  wind  of  joy 
Like  a  bright  banner  woven  by  the  sun. 
I  did  not  know  the  longing  in  the  night  — 
You  who  have  waked  me  cannot  give  me  sleep. 
All  things  in  all  the  world  can  rest,  but  I, 
Even  the  smooth  brief  respite  of  a  wave 
When  it  gives  up  its  broken  crown  of  foam, 
Even  that  little  rest  I  may  not  have. 
And  yet  all  quiet  loves  of  friends,  all  joy 
In  all  the  piercing  beauty  of  the  world 
I  would  give  up  —  go  blind  forevermore, 
Rather  than  have  God  blot  from  out  my  soul 
Remembrance  of  your  voice  that  said  my  name. 

****** 
For  us  no  starlight  stilled  the  April  fields, 
No  birds  awoke  in  darkling  trees  for  us, 
[1261 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Yet  where  we  walked  the  city's  street  that  night 
Felt  in  our  feet  the  singing  fire  of  spring, 
Anil  in  our  path  we  left  a  trail  of  light 
Soft  as  the  phosphorescence  of  the  sea 
When  night  submerges  in  the  vessel's  wake 
A  heaven  of  unborn  evanescent  stars. 


[127] 


VIGNETTES   OVERSEAS 

I 
Off  Gibraltar 

BEYOND  the  sleepy  hills  of  Spain, 
The  sun  goes  down  in  yellow  mist, 

The  sky  is  fresh  with  dewy  stars 
Above  a  sea  of  amethyst. 

Yet  in  the  city  of  my  love 

High  noon  burns  all  the  heavens  bare  — 
For  him  the  happiness  of  light, 

For  me  a  delicate  despair. 

II 

Off  Algiers 

Oh  give  me  neither  love  nor  tears, 

Nor  dreams  that  sear  the  night  with  fire, 

Go  lightly  on  your  pilgrimage 
Unburdened  by  desire. 

[128] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Forget  me  for  a  month,  a  year, 

But,  oh,  beloved,  think  of  me 
When  unexpected  beauty  burns 

Like  sudden  sunlight  on  the  sea. 

Ill 

Naples 

Nisida  and  Prosida  are  laughing  in  the  light, 
Capri  is  a  dewy  flower  lifting  into  sight, 
Posilipo  kneels  and  looks  in  the  burnished  sea, 
Naples  crowds  her  million  roofs  close  as  close  can 

be; 
Round  about  the  mountain's  crest  a  flag  of  smoke 

is  hung  — 
Oh  when  God  made  Italy  he  was  gay  and  young ! 

IV 

Capri 

When  beauty  grows  too  great  to  bear 
How  shall  I  ease  me  of  its  ache, 

[129] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

For  beauty  more  than  bitterness 
Makes  the  heart  break. 

Now  while  I  watch  the  dreaming  sea 
With  isles  like  flowers  against  her  breast, 

Only  one  voice  in  all  the  world 
Could  give  me  rest. 

V 

Night  Song  at  Amalfi 
I  asked  the  heaven  of  stars 

What  I  should  give  my  love  — 
It  answered  me  with  silence, 

Silence  above. 

I  asked  the  darkened  sea 

Down  where  the  fishers  go  — 

It  answered  me  with  silence, 
Silence  below. 

Oh,  I  could  give  him  weeping, 
Or  I  could  give  him  song  — 
[130] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

But  how  can  I  give  silence 
My  whole  life  long? 

VI 

Ruins  of  Paestum 

On  lowlands  where  the  temples  lie 

The  marsh-grass  mingles  with  the  flowers, 

Only  the  little  songs  of  birds 
Link  the  unbroken  hours. 

So  in  the  end,  above  my  heart 
Once  like  the  city  wild  and  gay, 

The  slow  white  stars  will  pass  by  night, 
The  swift  brown  birds  by  day. 

VII 

Rome 

Oh  for  the  rising  moon 
Over  the  roofs  of  Rome, 

And  swallows  in  the  dusk 
Circling  a  darkened  dome ! 
[131] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Oh  for  the  measured  dawns 
That  pass  with  folded  wings  — 

How  can  I  let  them  go 
With  unremembered  things? 

VIII 

Florence 
The  bells  ring  over  the  Arno, 

Midnight,  the  long,  long  chime; 
Here  in  the  quivering  darkness 

I  am  afraid  of  time. 

Oh,  gray  bells  cease  your  tolling, 
Time  takes  too  much  from  me, 

And  yet  to  rock  and  river 
He  gives  eternity. 

IX 

Villa  Serbelloni,  Bellaggio 

The  fountain  shivers  lightly  in  the  rain, 
The  laurels  drip,  the  fading  roses  fall, 
[1321 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

The  marble  satyr  plays  a  mournful  strain 
That  leaves  the  rainy  fragrance  musical. 

Oh  dripping  laurel,  Phoebus  sacred  tree, 
Would  that  swift  Daphne's  lot  might  come  to 
me, 

Then  would  I  still  my  soul  and  for  an  hour 
Change  to  a  laurel  in  the  glancing  shower. 

X 

Stresa 

The  moon  grows  out  of  the  hills 

A  yellow  flower, 
The  lake  is  a  dreamy  bride 

Who  waits  her  hour. 

Beauty  has  filled  my  heart, 

It  can  hold  no  more, 
It  is  full,  as  the  lake  is  full, 

From  shore  to  shore. 
[1331 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

XI 

Hamburg 

The  day  that  I  come  home, 
What  will  you  find  to  say,  — 

Words  as  light  as  foam 
With  laughter  light  as  spray? 

Yet  say  what  words  you  will 
The  day  that  I  come  home; 

I  shall  hear  the  whole  deep  ocean 
Beating  under  the  foam. 


134 


V 

SAPPHO 


SAPPHO 

I 

MIDNIGHT,  and  in  the  darkness  not  a  sound, 

So,    with    hushed    breathing,    sleeps    the    autumn 

night ; 

Only  the  white  immortal  stars  shall  know, 
Here  in  the  house  with  the  low-lintelled  door, 
How,  for  the  last  time,  I  have  lit  the  lamp. 
I  think  you  are  not  wholly  careless  now, 
Walls  that  have  sheltered  me  so  many  an  hour, 
Bed  that  has  brought  me  ecstasy  and  sleep, 
Floors  that  have  borne  me  when  a  gale  of  joy 
Lifted  my  soul  and  made  me  half  a  god. 
Farewell !    Across  the  threshold  many  feet 
Shall  pass,  but  never  Sappho's  feet  again. 
Girls  shall  come  in  whom  love  has  made  aware 
Of  all  their  swaying  beauty  —  they  shall  sing, 
[137] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

But  never  Sappho's  voice,  like  golden  fire, 
Shall  seek  for  heaven  thru  your  echoing  rafters. 
There  shall  be  swallows  bringing  back  the  spring 
Over  the  long  blue  meadows  of  the  sea, 
And  south- wind  playing  on  the  reeds  of  rain, 
But  never  Sappho's  whisper  in  the  night, 
Never  her  love-cry  when  the  lover  comes. 
Farewell !     I  close  the  door  and  make  it  fast. 
****** 

The  little  street  lies  meek  beneath  the  moon, 
Running,  as  rivers  run,  to  meet  the  sea. 
I  too  go  seaward  and  shall  not  return. 
Oh  garlands  on  the  doorposts  that  I  pass, 
Woven  of  asters  and  of  autumn  leaves, 
I  make  a  prayer  for  you :    Cypris  be  kind, 
That  every  lover  may  be  given  love. 
I  shall  not  hasten  lest  the  paving  stones 
Should  echo  with  my  sandals  and  awake 
Those  who  are  warm  beneath  the  cloak  of  sleep, 
Lest  they  should  rise  and  see  me  and  should  say, 
[138] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

"Whither  goes  Sappho  lonely  in  the  night ?" 
Whither  goes  Sappho?     Whither  all  men  go, 
But  they  go  driven,  straining  back  with  fear, 
And  Sappho  goes  as  lightly  as  a  leaf 
Blown  from  brown  autumn  forests  to  the  sea. 

****** 
Here  on  the  rock  Zeus  lifted  from  the  waves, 
I  shall  await  the  waking  of  the  dawn, 
Lying  beneath  the  weight  of  dark  as  one 
Lies  breathless,  till  the  lover  shall  awake. 
And  with  the  sun  the  sea  shall  cover  me  — 
I  shall  be  less  than  the  dissolving  foam 
Murmuring  and  melting  on  the  ebbing  tide; 
I  shall  be  less  than  spindrift,  less  than  shells; 
And  yet  I  shall  be  greater  than  the  gods, 
For  destiny  no  more  can  bow  my  soul 
As  rain  bows  down  the  watch-fires  on  the  hills. 
Yea,  if  my  soul  escape  it  shall  aspire 
To  the  white  heaven  as  flame  that  has  its  will. 
I  go  not  bitterly,  not  dumb  with  pain, 
[139] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Not  broken  by  the  ache  of  love  —  I  go 
As  one  grown  tired  lies  down  and  hopes  to  sleep. 
Yet  they  shall  say:    "It  was  for  Cercolas; 
She  died  because  she  could  not  bear  her  love." 
They  shall  remember  how  we  used  to  walk 
Here  on  the  cliff  beneath  the  oleanders 
In  the  long  limpid  twilight  of  the  spring, 
Looking  toward  Lemnos,  where  the  amber  sky 
Was  pierced  with  the  faint  arrow  of  a  star. 
How  should  they  know  the  wind  of  a  new  beauty 
Sweeping  my  soul  had  winnowed  it  with  song? 
I  have  been  glad  tho'  love  should  come  or  go, 
Happy  as  trees  that  find  a  wind  to  sway  them, 
Happy  again  when  it  has  left  them  rest. 
Others  shall  say,  "Grave  Dica  wrought  her  death. 
She  would  not  lift  her  lips  to  take  a  kiss, 
Or  ever  lift  her  eyes  to  take  a  smile. 
She  was  a  pool  the  winter  paves  with  ice 
That  the  wild  hunter  in  the  hills  must  leave 
With  thirst  unslaked  in  the  brief  southward  sun." 
[140] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Ah  Dica,  it  is  not  for  thee  I  go; 
And  not  for  Phaon,  tho'  his  ship  lifts  sail 
Here  in  the  windless  harbor  for  the  south. 
Oh,  darkling  deities  that  guard  the  Nile, 
Watch  over  one  whose  gods  are  far  away. 
Egypt,  be  kind  to  him,  his  eyes  are  deep  — 
Yet  they  are  wrong  who  say  it  was  for  him. 
How   should   they   know   that   Sappho   lived   and 

died 

Faithful  to  love,  not  faithful  to  the  lover, 
Never  transfused  and  lost  in  what  she  loved, 
Never  so  wholly  loving  nor  at  peace. 
I  asked  for  something  greater  than  I  found, 
And  every  time  that  love  has  made  me  weep, 
I  have  rejoiced  that  love  could  be  so  strong; 
For  I  have  stood  apart  and  watched  my  soul 
Caught  in  the  gust  of  passion,  as  a  bird 
With  baffled  wings  against  the  dusty  whirlwind 
Struggles  and  frees  itself  to  find  the  sky. 
It  is  not  for  a  single  god  I  go; 

fun 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

I  have  grown  weary  of  the  winds  of  heaven. 
I  will  not  be  a  reed  to  hold  the  sound 
Of  whatsoever  breath  the  gods  may  blow, 
Turning  my  torment  into  music  for  them. 
They  gave  me  life;    the  gift  was  bountiful, 
I  lived  with  the  swift  singing  strength  of  fire, 
Seeking  for  beauty  as  a  flame  for  fuel  — 
Beauty  in  all  things  and  in  every  hour. 
The  gods  have  given  life  —  I  gave  them  song ; 
The  debt  is  paid  and  now  I  turn  to  go. 

****** 
The  breath  of  dawn  blows  the  stars  out  like  lamps, 
There  is  a  rim  of  silver  on  the  sea, 
As  one  grown  tired  who  hopes  to  sleep,  I  go. 

II 

Oh  Litis,  little  slave,  why  will  you  sleep? 
These  long  Egyptian  noons  bend  down  your  head 
Bowed  like  the  yarrow  with  a  yellow  bee. 
There,  lift  your  eyes  no  man  has  ever  kindled, 
[1421 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Dark  eyes  that  wait  like  faggots  for  the  fire. 
See  how  the  temple's  solid  square  of  shade 
Points  north  to  Lesbos,  and  the  splendid  sea 
That  you  have  never  seen,  oh  evening-eyed. 
Yet  have  you  never  wondered  what  the  Nile 
Is  seeking  always,  restless  and  wild  with  spring 
And  no  less  in  the  winter,  seeking  still? 
How  shall  I  tell  you?     Can  you  think  of  fields 
Greater   than   Gods   could   till,   more   blue   than 

night 

Sown  over  with  the  stars;    and  delicate 
With  filmy  nets  of  foam  that  come  and  go? 
It  is  more  cruel  and  more  compassionate 
Than  harried  earth.     It  takes  with  unconcern 
And  quick  forgetting,  rapture  of  the  ram 
And  agony  of  thunder,  the  moon's  white 
Soft-garmented  virginity,  and  then 
The  insatiable  ardor  of  the  sun. 
And  me  it  took.     But  there  is  one  more  strong, 
Love,  that  came  laughing  from  the  elder  seas, 
[1431 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

The  Cyprian,  the  mother  of  the  world; 

She  gave  me  love  who  only  asked  for  death  — 

I  who  had  seen  much  sorrow  in  men's  eyes 

And  in  my  own  too  sorrowful  a  fire. 

I  was  a  sister  of  the  stars,  and  yet 

Shaken  with  pain;    sister  of  birds  and  yet 

The  wings  that  bore  my  soul  were  very  tired. 

I  watched  the  careless  spring  too  many  times 

Light  her  green  torches  in  a  hungry  wind ; 

Too  many  times  I  watched  them  flare,  and  then 

Fall  to  forsaken  embers  in  the  autumn. 

And  I  was  sick  of  all  things  —  even  song. 

In  the  dull  autumn  dawn  I  turned  to  death, 

Buried  my  living  body  in  the  sea, 

The    strong    cold    sea    that    takes    and    does    not 

give  — 

But  there  is  one  more  strong,  the  Cyprian. 
Litis,  to  wake  from  sleep  and  find  your  eyes 
Met  in  their  first  fresh  upward  gaze  by  love, 
Filled  with  love's  happy  shame  from  other  eyes, 
[144] 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Dazzled  with  tenderness  and  drowned  in  light 
As  tho'  you  looked  unthinking  at  the  sun, 
Oh  Litis,  that  is  joy !     But  if  you  came 
Not  from  the  sunny  shallow  pool  of  sleep, 
But  from  the  sea  of  death,  the  strangling  sea 
Of  night  and  nothingness,  and  waked  to  find 
Love  looking  down  upon  you,  glad  and  still, 
Strange  and  yet  known  forever,  that  is  peace. 
So  did  he  lean  above  me.     Not  a  word 
He  spoke;    I  only  heard  the  morning  sea 
Singing  against  his  happy  ship,  the  keen 
And  straining  joy  of  wind-awakened  sails 
And  songs  of  mariners,  and  in  myself 
The  precious  pain  of  arms  that  held  me  fast. 
They  warmed  the  cold  sea  out  of  all  my  blood; 
I  slept,  feeling  his  eyes  above  my  sleep. 
There  on  the  ship  with  wines  and  olives  laden, 
Led  by  the  stars  to  far  invisible  ports, 
Egypt  and  islands  of  the  inner  seas, 
Love  came  to  me,  and  Cercolas  was  love. 
L  f  145  1 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

IIIi 

The  twilight's  inner  flame  grows  blue  and  deep, 
And  in  my  Lesbos,  over  leagues  of  sea, 
The  temples  glimmer  moon-wise  in  the  trees. 
Twilight  has  veiled  the  little  flower-face 
Here  on  my  heart,  but  still  the  night  is  kind 
And  leaves  her  warm  sweet  weight  against  my  breast, 
Am  I  that  Sappho  who  would  run  at  dusk 
Along  the  surges  creeping  up  the  shore 
When  tides  came  in  to  ease  the  hungry  beach, 
And  running,  running  till  the  night  was  black, 
Would  fall  forespent  upon  the  chilly  sand 
And  quiver  with  the  winds  from  off  the  sea? 
Ah  quietly  the  shingle  waits  the  tides 
Whose  waves  are  stinging  kisses,  but  to  me 
Love  brought  no  peace,  nor  darkness  any  rest. 
I  crept  and  touched  the  foam  with  fevered  hands 
And  cried  to  Love,  from  whom  the  sea  is  sweet, 
From  whom  the  sea  is  bitterer  than  death. 
1  From  "  Helen  of  Troy  and  Other  Poems." 
[1461 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

Ah,  Aphrodite,  if  I  sing  no  more 
To  thee,  God's  daughter,  powerful  as  God, 
It  is  that  thou  hast  made  my  life  too  sweet 
To  hold  the  added  sweetness  of  a  song. 
There  is  a  quiet  at  the  heart  of  love, 
And  I  have  pierced  the  pain  and  come  to  peace. 
I  hold  my  peace,  my  Cleis,  on  my  heart; 
And  softer  than  a  little  wild  bird's  wing 
Are  kisses  that  she  pours  upon  my  mouth. 
Ah  never  any  more  when  spring  like  fire 
Will  flicker  in  the  newly  opened  leaves, 
Shall  I  steal  forth  to  seek  for  solitude 
Beyond  the  lure  of  light  Alcaeus'  lyre, 
Beyond  the  sob  that  stilled  Erinna's  voice. 
Ah,  never  with  a  throat  that  aches  with  song, 
Beneath  the  white  uncaring  sky  of  spring, 
Shall  I  go  forth  to  hide  awhile  from  Love 
The  quiver  and  the  crying  of  my  heart. 
Still  I  remember  how  I  strove  to  flee 
The  love-note  of  the  birds,  and  bowed  my  head 
[1471 


RIVERS    TO    THE    SEA 

To  hurry  faster,  but  upon  the  ground 
I  saw  two  winged  shadows  side  by  side, 
And  all  the  world's  spring  passion  stifled  me. 
Ah,  Love  there  is  no  fleeing  from  thy  might, 
No  lonely  place  where  thou  hast  never  trod, 
No  desert  thou  hast  left  uncarpeted 
With  flowers  that  spring  beneath  thy  perfect  feet. 
In  many  guises  didst  thou  come  to  me; 
I  saw  thee  by  the  maidens  while  they  danced, 
Phaon  allured  me  with  a  look  of  thine, 
In  Anactoria  I  knew  thy  grace, 
I  looked  at  Cercolas  and  saw  thine  eyes; 
But  never  wholly,  soul  and  body  mine, 
Didst  thou  bid  any  love  me  as  I  loved. 
Now  have  I  found  the  peace  that  fled  from  me; 
Close,  close  against  my  heart  I  hold  my  world. 
Ah,  Love  that  made  my  life  a  lyric  cry, 
Ah,  Love  that  tuned  my  lips  to  lyres  of  thine, 
I  taught  the  world  thy  music,  now  alone 
I    sing    for    one    who    falls    asleep    to    hear. 
[148] 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


14  DAY  L 

- 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


r*n.v-*  L-T  i—  i-* 

IMY291983 

S£y>0  65-8PM 

/\Fih      ^  1QRR  3  2 

jc'cicirc.  jUF         ^Hi 
§ 

ArK 
IMV  2&IEE2  A  DP  n 

i 

JUL6    19728 

7 

BECDCD    JIS1- 

-•     • 

APR  1 

1976  1  9 

SEC.  GIB.  ;-*<io  * 

/WW<sl 

li, £•  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


520169 


•     UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


